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The Gecko
Last month,
Alliance Francaise was host to Stephen Robinson’s
“Spirit-of-the-land” exhibition themed “Amenshi”, meaning water in
Bemba language.
I was privileged,
not only to attend, but as Gecko, I could perch on any one of the
many beautiful pictures on display for the duration of the
exhibition and observe people’s reactions.
One exciting
thing about this exhibition was the fact that the theme of the show
was the photographer’s impression of this most vital of Zambia’s
natural resources, water and with it, the waterfalls. Especially
with this year’s ZNTB Visit Zambia Campaign’s focus on the “Source
of the Zambezi River”.
I must say that
the best times of the exhibition was after 6 pm and Sundays when the
doors were closed to the public.
Picture the Gecko
jumping from picture to picture, crawling around the exhibition hall
in total silence, leaping on tables which I could have easily turned
and read almost anything that caught my eyes.
The visitor’s
book in particular was one item that really caught my fancy and to
my astonishment, out of the 1000 plus visitors that visited the
exhibition, I could not find notable names that attended this very
important show.
Busy schedule I
presume ...
However, the
response from the Zambian public, embassies and schools was
overwhelming and here are some of the comments that were made:
“Thank you for
bringing close the beauty of this country in this form. Everything
is really amazing”.
“…pictures more
beautiful than anything you ever dreamed”.
“Magnificent
display, wonderful to see unusual views of some of the falls I
little know well”.
“Very
breathtaking, I want to go to all these places especially Lake Mweru”.
“I never knew
that Zambia had such breathtaking landscapes. It’s incredible”.
“Zambia is indeed
the real Africa - beautiful by nature”.
“Moved my
spirit. Astounding. Will be back”.
“I am a Zambian,
lived in Zambia for 23 years and I never thought it was this
beautiful”.
“So pleasing to
know that such high quality photographic work is being used to
promote conservation regionally”.
“I never knew
such things exist in the country since I was born. I think we can
only protect what we appreciate”.
“This exhibition
has moved me to tears - superb compositions of a beautiful country
by a very talented artistic photographer”.
“Quite stunning,
I am Zambian but I know nothing about my country”.
“It’s amazing
what beauty lies undiscovered”.
“You have showed
so well the beauty and the spirit of Zambian natural resources, the
quality of the pictures are exceptional and I hope so much that the
aim of keeping nature as it is will be successful”.
“Wish we could
see all this “live”. Thanks for wonderful view of Zambia”.
“ZNTB should
seriously consider using these pictures during their quest in
promoting Zambia at home and abroad”.
The exhibition
featured works on Zambia’s two major river systems that arguably
make Zambia the most important source of fresh water in Southern
Africa : the Zambezi Basin system and the Congo Basin system.
In addition, the
exhibition featured Stephen’s people photography. Here, he gave his
impressions of how closely and directly the day-to-day survival of
many remote Zambian populations depend upon the fragile environment
and natural resources depicted in the landscapes.
Stephen is
specialised in nature photography including wildlife, environment,
ecology, conservation and landscape work. His career spans well over
25 years.
He continues
trying hard to get more involvement from the government, NGO’s and
donors and to get greater appreciation of the fact that action on
the environment is vital to the long term success of projects in
human health and welfare, poverty alleviation, anti-HIV/AIDS and
education.
Stephen’s
Spirit-of-the-land project is the unknown landscape of remote
Zambia, which he seeks to present in a particular style using
panoramic photography. |
July
2007